


Freedom of the Press

by TeapotFiction



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-03
Updated: 2017-11-03
Packaged: 2019-01-29 00:55:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12619468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TeapotFiction/pseuds/TeapotFiction
Summary: Betty and Jughead spend some time in the Blue and Gold room together, and their feelings emerge.Pre-relationship.Based off a prompt I got on Tumblr.  Short and sweet!





	Freedom of the Press

Betty had a pencil in her mouth, a finger curling around the bottom of her ponytail, and a frustrated expression on her face when Jughead arrived in the Blue and Gold room. He paused and watched her for a moment before announcing his presence.

‘What’s up Betts? My semi-colons causing you pain again?’ He grinned at her furrowed brow.

‘I know you have to start somewhere, but how am I meant to produce an interesting paper when your top story is about the sodium content in the school’s coleslaw?’

‘Well it’s a very pertinent question. We should all be concerned with lowering our sodium consumption.’ Jughead smirked and pulled up a seat next to her, slinging his bag to the floor.

‘Jug. Not even you eat the coleslaw. It could be entirely constituted from salt and it would harm exactly no one.’ Betty pulled a face.

‘Well, with a defeatist attitude like that, no wonder you’re struggling.’ He nudged her arm and leant over to read her screen. The gap between them was closed completely, their arms and leg pressed against one another’s.

‘Oh don’t Jug, it’s awful.’ Betty leant forward to close her laptop before he could see, and at the same time Jughead reached forward to stop her. His hand landed on hers and Betty recoiled quickly, trying, but unable to ignore the slight bolt that had flooded through her as his fingers brushed hers. This was crazy, she’d known Jughead for years, she saw him every day. He was one of her best friends, for goodness sake.

Jughead eyed the words on the screen smiling to himself. ‘I’ve got to hand it to you Betts, for the world’s most boring story, you have at least managed to bump it from unimaginably turgid to only slightly dull.’ He grinned at her, holding her gaze for a little longer than he would normally. Betty shifted uncomfortably and changed the subject, dropping her eyes away from his.

‘Always such high praise Jones.’ she cleared her throat, still looking down. ‘What have you got for me then?’

His smirk disappeared and was replaced with a sheepish expression. ‘Well. About that…’

‘Yes?’

‘Literally nothing happens in Riverdale.’

She couldn’t help herself from smiling. ‘But Jug, has that ever stopped us?’

He looked sideways at her, suddenly aware of how close they were sitting.

‘No it has not. Which is why I have a fascinating story on our sports rivalry with Greendale High.’

Betty groaned. ‘We run that every year.’

‘And every year the football team loves us, just for one day. It makes their victory that much sweeter. You could argue that it’s a charitable service.’

‘Always an answer for everything. Can I see it?’

Jughead pulled out his laptop. As he waited for it to load, he quipped. ‘I like to feel this adds to the suspense of it all. I’m hoping you’ll overlook some of my semi-colons by the time this old thing boots up.’

‘Hell could freeze over, Jughead, and I still wouldn’t overlook your semi-colons.’  The tension had disappeared and things seemed to be back to normal.

Jughead was a big part of the reason that Betty liked working on the Blue and Gold so much. Their friendship was the easy sort, and within the confines of the B&G room, she felt more like herself than anywhere else. Their banter was always there, but it was more so here, where there was no Veronica or Archie, or outside life to distract them. It was where Betty had the most fun.

‘Cruel Miss Cooper.’ Jughead muttered as he tapped away on his laptop. ‘Anyway, the story of the year is in your inbox now.’

‘Thanks Juggie. I will try not to be too awed by it.’ She stuck her tongue out at him and he smiled, shaking his head fondly at her. Betty was a little puzzled by the strange expression on his face and busied herself on her computer.

‘Okay. So this looks long enough to take up most of the sports page. Ethel’s written a piece on the history of the school mascot, and we have my sodium scandal article. That leaves us with at least three empty slots, and two days to pull something together that at least resembles a school paper.’ Betty sighed.

‘Maybe it’ll look better if we print it out and lay it out?’ Jughead suggested, though not too hopefully.

‘Maybe.’ Betty clicked about on her screen and soon enough the ancient printer was whirling. Jughead stood up. ‘I’ll get them.’ He squeezed her shoulder and strode towards the printer, causing Betty to look at him in confusion again. She decided not to think too much of it, instead turning her attention to the matter at hand. She tapped her fingers on the desk, wracking her brain for story ideas, but gave up after a minute and went over to the desk where Jughead was laying out the scraps of paper.

‘It’s a little….’ She began.

‘Sparse.’ He agreed. ‘But that’s okay. We’ve got two whole days.’

They stared at it for a while, hoping that something would magically come to them.

‘Is there any local history we haven’t already reported on?’

‘Not a lot left no. What about Jason…?’ Jughead suggested tentatively. The teen in the grade above them had been missing for over a week now, with no sign of his whereabouts.

‘You know that Headmaster Weatherbee has forbidden us from reporting about that until he is found and we have the blessing of the Blossoms. So I wouldn’t count on us ever being able to write about that.’

‘Hmm.’

Betty crossed over to the other side of the room and pulled out the folder of backup stories that she kept for when news ran dry.

‘Oh no. Not the folder of doom. Anything but that.’ Jughead sighed dramatically.

‘Desperate times, Jones.’

She returned to her original seat and started to flick through the pieces of paper. Jughead went over to stand behind her. He put one hand on the back of his chair and leant his weight on it, positioning his body so he was able to read over Betty’s shoulder. With his other hand he pulled out some of the paper and spread them across the desk. They both scanned the headlines for anything that they could use.

‘What about this one?’ Jughead reached across. ‘Tales of the Unexpected: The Ghosts of Riverdale.’ He let go of the chair and instead rested his hand lightly on Betty’s shoulder as he read.

‘I didn’t have you down as someone who believed in the paranormal.’

‘Oh definitely. I hold a seance every night. I can’t believe you didn’t know that.’

‘No wonder Archie’s been looking so tired recently. He must love sharing with you.’

‘Very funny Betts. Dead men tell no tales…. But that doesn’t stop people’s imagination running away with them. And it’s nearly Halloween. If we put back the paper by a week, you can rework this story and I’ll do a feature on scary films - then we can produce a decent edition.’

‘You might be onto something there Juggie. Although I’m not thrilled about delaying the paper.’

‘But for a good cause.’ Jughead returned to his laptop and pulled up a blank document, preparing to start the article. ‘I promise not to quibble with you when you change all of my grammar and I’ll make sure every film on the list is Weatherbee approved, even if it does compromise my artistic integrity.’

‘You have yourself a deal Mr Jones.’ Betty laughed.

‘We’d better shake on on it.’ Jughead offered his hand and Betty took it in hers, shaking it once. He held it firmly and didn’t let go, instead he pulled her towards him slightly, scanning her eyes for a reaction.

‘Betty. I…’ He looked at her and looked down at their hands again loosening his grip slightly. ‘I…’ he swallowed. ‘Never mind.’ he dropped her hand and turned back to his laptop.

Betty didn’t move, wondering what he was going to say, and if he’d felt what she had when he took her hand. Something seemed to have shifted in the air. There was that tension again, the one that hadn’t existed previously. She was ultra aware of his position in relation to hers. She turned back to the article they’d found, marking it up with a pencil. They were still so close, she felt almost pressed against his side, their chairs were so near each other. She didn’t want to move though, she found that she liked the feeling of being against Jughead’s side. And she found that she’d be disappointed if he moved.

She glanced across at him, but he kept his eyes fixed on the screen in front of him that was slowly filling up with words so she returned her attention to the printed paper in front of her. It wasn’t as bad as she’d been expecting; she was confident that she could make it into a good article.

Jughead saw her smile, and the feelings he’d been trying to repress started to stir inside him again. While she was scribbling with her right hand, her left hand - the one closest to him - was resting on her leg. It was too tempting.

He stopped typing, and still looking at his screen, dropped his right hand as casually as he could, placing it on his leg but with his little finger resting over hers. Out of the corner of his eye he saw her mouth form a little ‘o’ of surprise. He waited a beat, ensuring that she wasn’t going to recoil again, and decided to go for it before he lost his nerve. Slowly he slid his hand across so it covered hers. Again he waited to see if he was met with any resistance. Betty’s heart raced, and she concentrated on the page in front of her, sneaking just one sideways glance at him, but his expression was completely neutral.

Slowly, but more confidently, Jughead curled his hand around hers so he was holding it properly, and gave it a little squeeze. Betty squeezed back. He saw the slight blush out of the corner of his eye and smiled.

They both felt a little shy, and though it was obvious neither of them were actually concentrating on the articles in front of them, they were both studiously staring at them. Neither wanted to be the one that moved first.

Gently, Jughead threaded his fingers through hers. He saw her grin and he turned his head towards her. She mirrored his action.

‘Hi you.’ he said, lightly, though his stomach was doing somersaults.

‘Hi.’ she replied a little breathily.

‘Is this okay?’ he squeezed her hand again.

‘More than okay.’ She smiled at him shyly. ‘But Juggie…What does it..?’ she trailed off, not quite able to finish her sentence.

‘Mean? Good question. Well, for starters it means that the highlight of my week is my time spent in this room. Because it’s time spent with you.’

Betty blushed even deeper. ‘Mine too.’ she whispered.

‘And it means I’d like to hold your hand more often.’

‘I’d like that.’

‘And it means I’ve been working up the courage to do this for a long time.’

Betty grinned. ‘It takes courage to hold my hand? I didn’t think that I was that scary.’

‘No.’ Jughead corrected her. ‘This.’

He took one final breath to steel his nerves and leant in towards her. His lips gently brushed hers, to make absolutely sure that she gave him permission, before applying the pressure a little more firmly. His hand went up to cup her cheek, while the other stayed holding hers. Jughead never wanted to stop kissing Betty, but eventually he broke away, leaning his forehead into hers and smiling.

Betty sighed contentedly, wrapped up in the totally unexpected but completely welcome moment. And then her expression changed from a smile to more of a smirk.

‘I thought you said nothing happens in Riverdale?’


End file.
